I haven't provided an update yet on this weeks progress for our . Since the end of the early-bird last week the registrations keep coming in. The pre-conferences are a success. In the latest status update I've seen on the web developer pre-conf to be delivered by Jeff Prosise, 200+ people are registered.

This week I finalized the complete developer and architect agenda. To avoid conflicts with related topics in the other developer sessions scheduled in the same time slots, and to avoid conflicts with the IT-Pro sessions, I moved around some sessions. This update hasn't made it to the public web site yet. But early next week it will be live at !

This year there aren't any specific core or virtual tracks like we had last year. The wealth of developer content that is available to the attendees is structured and leveled by pre-fixing all sessions with DEVxxx, where the first x specifies the level of the session. Eg: DEV3xx is a level 300 session. The last two xx are only specifying the session number which is used for ordering purposes. Based on this session title (Eg: DEV318 - What’s New in Visual Basic 9.0 for Application Developers) the attendees will be able to download the PowerPoint slide decks from the web site.

All sessions are led by experts, will use PowerPoint slide decks and demos. Target level of the content is Level 200 for introductionary sessions, Level 300 for advanced content and Level 400 for deep technical content on very specific topics. There won't be any Level 100 content delivered during the conference. This Level 100 content is usually already available on-line through web casts.

To provide you with the best customized learning experience I selected a variety of products and developer techniques: Office 2007, Windows Vista and programming on .NET Framework 3.0, Visual Studio 2005, Team System, Visual Studio "Orcas", SQL Server 2005, and all things related to .NET Framework.

As the agenda is finalized I'd like to give you an update on  of the developer and architects track. And to be honest the list is quite impressive!

Let's have a look at the list:

  • Bart De Smet: won the Speaker Idol contest at "" in Barcelona last year and has an excellent blog covering a variety of topics.
  • Bob Beauchemin: is an all things SQL guru and an excellent speaker and writer.
  • Carrie Longson: Has been a User Experience consultant till a couple of months ago and has lots of practical experience on using XAML and the Expression Tools.
  • Chad Hower: Professional traveller and speaker on a variety of topics. Check out .
  • Christian Weyer: Indigo and contract-first guy, and big boy of  ;-). Blogs .
  • Doug Mahugh: All things OpenXML: from ISO standards over interop to microformats. is also the moderator of the community.
  • Ingo Rammer: Well known in Belgium since a long time and highly appreciated for his deep technical knowledge and speaking skills. Blogging .
  • Jay Schmelzer: Group Program Manager on the and responsible for delivering the best end-to-end developer experience in Visual Studio.
  • Jeff Prosise: Web Platform guru, top speaker and great guy. will provide you with the latest info on WPF/E and ASP.NET AJAX.
  • Jelle Druyts: and consultant who has lots of practical experience on enterprise projects using Visual Studio Team System.
  • Joris Poelmans: Also known on the net as , Information Worker Solutions guy and blogger at .
  • Kurt Claeys: , .NET Consultant and focusing on .NET Framework 3.0 technologies these days. 
  • Patrick Tisseghem: and long time friend who made it to the top thanks to his knowledge, teaching skills, the community, the Office system and ... Microsoft.
  • Peter Himschoot: Regional Director for Microsoft, President of the Visual Studio User Group and at Microsoft events; focusing on upcoming .NET technologies.
  • Raj Pai: for the Visual C# team and responsible for making developers more productive using Visual C#.
  • Ron Jacobs: Long-time at Microsoft, well-known at conferences and . The Architect guy!
  • Ronny Bjones: Secuirty strategist and frequent speaker on all types of security topics. Covering Cardspace for developers.
  • Roy Osherove: Blogging at ISerializable on Unit Testing, Agile Development, Architecture, Team System & .NET. Welcome back in Belgium Roy. This time he's covering his favorite these topcis.
  • Steven Wilssens: Founder of the VISUG who moved to Redmond a couple of months ago to become a that is responsible for his team's software process.

Some of these speakers are people from our who are considered and rewarded as experts by Microsoft and their peers. The other speakers are all technical experts in their domain and very well-known in the industry.
Most - if not all - have spoken at big international technical events like TechEd US, TechEd: Developers, PDC, DevWeek, devscovery, Advisor conferences, DevDays, Technical Days, etc. with top scores as a result.

From next week on I'll have a more in-depth look at the developer topcis and products covered during Dev & IT-Pro Days 2007. If you want to attend, there are still seats available. today! See you at Dev & IT-Pro Days 2007!